Those!
by dorawarrior
Summary: based on a quest in the game-after years of abhorring human contact, Jared meets a boy who may be able to fill in that emptiness and ultimately lead him to what he truly wants...


just played Fallout 3 recently...and found a quest that grasped at my imagination...hope you'll enjoy this...

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Jared had never had a place to call home. His life was simply to move from place to place, killing raiders to loot their bodies, trading with occasional scavenger and simply doing whatever it takes to survive. He's been around most places, travelling in the desolate remains of the United States of America, not caring about anyone or anything else.

Well, not quite.

His dog, a German-Shepherd whom he simply called Wolf, accompanied him throughout most of his journeys. He had found Wolf as a pup, and would have shot the dog for dinner but for the dog's eyes. The dog had only stared at him with hopeful, trusting and sad eyes, deterring him from pulling the trigger of his trusty hunting rifle. He had simply turned around and walked away, and the dog had simply followed.

They were inseparable ever since.

Jared was an African-American. His hair was shorn short, almost bald to keep it out of his eyes so that it wouldn't interfere with his shooting. His skin was worn and rough from years of toiling through the remains of broken buildings, from fighting off raiders and mutants and all manner of dangers out in the desolate wasteland. He was roughly six feet three inches tall and was lean but muscular. He wore a pair of old steel-rimmed square classes over his dark eyes. His mouth was always turned downwards due to years of loneliness and lack of smiling. With the short beard and moustache, it served to make him look fiercer than he really is. He was always clad in simple white wastelander clothing, it was easier for him to move around. He also had a backpack strapped to his back along with a shot-gun and assault rifle.

Jared had been running low on food and medicine for the past week, and he had been worried about it. He had taken to hunting some wild Bhramin, but they were hard to come across, and he didn't exactly fancy eating the radscorpions and other rabid creatures that roamed the land.

His stomach growling, he looked around the land for somewhere that may have a settlement, so that he can replenish his supplies. As far as he could see, the land was completely desolate and devoid of life. He let out a sigh, looks like he would have to eat some random critter then.

Suddenly, he heard Wolf barking. He turned to face the direction of the sound and saw that the German-Shepherd was standing on hill, or rather, the remains of building piled into one big heap.

Jared quickly went over to the Wolf's side and looked down. The land fell away into the remains of a city and a tall building was loomed nearby. Jared grunted his approval as he patted Wolf's head. Then, the dog began to growl. Jared squinted a little and what he saw made him scowl.

Raiders.

They were just hanging around the place, smoking, drinking, and fighting and so on.

Jared knew he couldn't sneak past them, nor could he take them all at once. He decided he'd wait till nightfall, and then he'd sneak in, kill a few that may stand in his way and take what supplies he could.

So he sat behind the hill and kept watch on the raiders to make sure they wouldn't discover him.

The sun slowly went down and when it was finally a bloody red on the horizon, something happened.

The raiders were shouting excitedly, and pointing at something.

Jared peeked over the hill cautiously and saw that they had formed a circle around something.

He squinted and managed to make out the form a young boy.

Jared frowned, what the hell was a boy doing out in the wasteland? No doubt that the raiders were going to have some fun with the boy and kill him.

"It's too bad, kid," he muttered before turning away.

He could hear the boy cry out in pain, and felt his conscience admonishing him. But years of hard living had hardened his heart. No one survived in the wasteland through being compassionate to others.

Jared tried to block out the boy's screams of pain as the raiders beat him.

He turned away and saw Wolf looking at him with sad eyes.

"Don't give me that look, dog," he growled.

Wolf just stared at him.

"No one can survive being kind to others," Jared growled at the dog. "It's every man for himself."

The dog looked at him, its brown eyes large and full of emotions. Jared can practically see the dog's thoughts.

_You were kind to me. You saved me._

The boy let out another yell of pain.

"Damn it," snarled Jared, un-strapping his assault rifle. "Stay here, stupid dog."

He slowly made his way down the ridge just below the hill, making his way stealthily towards the raiders. His white outfit served as a great camouflage, making him undetectable to the raiders.

He finally took a suitable spot behind a broken wall that was near enough for him to shoot, yet far enough so that it would make it difficult for the raiders to shoot him, plus the cover.

Jared looked over the wall and saw one the bigger raiders pushing the boy down onto all fours. He saw the raider roughly pulling the boy's pants down and lowered his own. He saw the raider positioning himself at the boy's rear. The other raiders around him whooped.

Even from that distance, Jared can hear what they were shouting.

"Fuck the kid!" shouted one of them.

"Yeah! Then give us our turn!" shouted another.

"Mama's gonna have a lot of fun!" shouted one of the female raiders.

Jared quickly took aim over the wall and pulled the trigger.

With tremendous noise, the assault rifle fired its bullets toward the raiders, many of them penetrating several of the raiders' flesh and bones.

The raiders suddenly found themselves drenched in their comrades' blood, shocking them. The raider who was about to sodomise the boy got to his feet, only to have them blasted apart by flying bullets.

The raiders turned in the direction of the shots fired and grabbing their own weapons, several fired back while others charged.

Jared released several more shots, bringing down a few more. One of them reached the wall where he was taking cover and yelling, the raider ran around it, going for the kill.

Instead, they found themselves staring at the barrel of a shotgun. Before he could even blink, the shotgun went off, and the raider's head was reduced to noting but flying pieces of skulls, brains and pair of eyeballs.

Jared quickly whirled around the wall and fired his assault rifle at several more of the oncoming raiders.

Of the seven that charged, none survived.

The other raiders tried to shoot Jared from the distance, but they could barely see him because his clothes blended well with the surrounding environment and most of their shots bounced off the surrounding rubble harmlessly.

Jared grinned to himself; this was how he wanted things to be. He un-strapped his favourite weapon off his back: the hunting rifle.

He crept around the rubble, unseen to the raiders.

He peered over the broken rock and counted his targets.

Five raiders.

Five bullets.

He took careful aim over the rubble. He had no scope to aim, but his glasses gave him a clear field of vision. The raiders were foolishly standing, which gave him tremendous advantage.

He can feel the wind blowing and waited for that lull.

It came.

He pulled the trigger, and with a loud bang, the bullet flew forth unseen before flying through the first raider's head cleanly.

Immediately, the four raiders turned and fired in Jared's direction, two of them moving forward to get a better aim. Moments later, those two slumped forward onto the ground, a bullet hole in each of their throats.

The two remaining raiders stared at their dead comrades with shock before a loud bang echoes throughout the wasteland, and one of them fell with bullet hole in his chest, the look of surprise still on his face.

The remaining raider, the female one that had gloated earlier, felt her groin grow warm and wetness ran down her thighs. She had just pissed herself. Dropping her gun and screaming, she ran towards the tall building. She barely made four steps when the hunting rifle roared yet again.

Her head flew upwards like a basketball tip-off, the look of terror still etched on it, her body, still in running motion, took one last step before collapsing in a bloody heap.

Jared put strapped his hunting rifle back on and walked towards where the boy was cowering. Behind the boy, the raider whose legs Jared had blasted off earlier was howling in pain.

Jared walked past the boy, who shrank away from him. Jared drew his shotgun and stood over the howling raider. The raider tried to crawl away from the wastelander.

A loud bang echoed throughout the wasteland and the raider's head was reduced to bloody pieces of skull and brain.

The boy just stared at Jared, trembling with fear, certain that his turn was coming.

The fearsome black man turned his emotionless gaze on the boy.

The boy was paralysed by fear and could not even move. He simply stared back with wide eyes.

"Pull up your pants," growled Jared.

The boy blinked and looked down. He realised that his pants were still down from when the raider had tried to…

The boy shuddered at the thought and obeyed.

Jared stared at the boy. He was about fourteen, with medium height. If he stood, his head would probably barely reach Jared's chest. He wore a pair of black rubber gloves and ragged blue suspenders with a dirty white shirt underneath. The boy's pale face was streaked with grime and dirt and his hair was a dirty blonde. His grey eyes were filled with fear, but they glared at the big man with defiance, something that Jared noted with amusement.

"What's your name, kid?" asked Jared.

"What's it fucking mean to you?" the boy asked defiantly.

Jared raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think you owe it to me? I did save your life after all."

"I could've handled those freaks," snapped the boy.

The boy was starting to grate on Jared's nerves.

"Fine then," he said coolly. "Then I guess you can handle surviving out here alone."

As he thought, this would scare the boy. The boy's grey eyes immediately widened and his defiant attitude fell away at once.

"Look, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to be…" the boy said in a softer tone, trailing off as he struggled to find the right word to describe his earlier behaviour.

"…an asshole," volunteered Jared.

The boy glared at him. "Bryan Wilks."

"What?" asked Jared.

"My name is Bryan Wilks," repeated the boy.

Jared grinned a little. He found himself enjoying the conversation. It's been a long time since he spoke with another human.

"Jared," he said in his deep rumbling voice.

That was the first time in years that he told someone else his name.

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They're first meeting...will update soon...


End file.
